Beauty and the Beast (1991): Acknowledging Mistakes

In my 5-part review of Beauty and the Beast, I simply had no time to talk about the little things that bothered me. There was too much good that had to be talked about. And that’s a common characteristic of all my favorite movies. It’s not that they’re perfect. No. It’s that I can still love these movies, in spite of their imperfections. This post is actually a prelude to a defense of Beauty and the Beast I’ll be releasing later (not sure when, could be a long time from now) since this new wave of “Beauty and the Beast has so many plot holes!” seems to be picking up some friction. While some of these claims are legitimate, I will not be including any of the more well-known ones in this post. For now, I just want to demonstrate to my readers that I am indeed capable of criticizing my favorite movies. I’ve seen this movie probably 6-8 times in the past year. 3-4 times before writing my review, and a couple times afterwards trying to share my experience with friends. It’s only a matter of time before one starts to notice the minute mistakes, even in their favorite productions. If you think these “mistakes” are trivial, you’re probably on to something. Oh, and I am referring to the original theatrical release of Beauty and the Beast. Let’s begin.

1) Latin words instead of French words
In the prologue, the first glass stained window has some text on the bottom that is in Latin. Wouldn’t it make a lot more sense if it was in French? I mean, Belle’s favorite book, and just about everything else, is written in French.

For those who are curious, it says “vincit qui se vincit,” which is Latin for, “He conquers, who conquers himself.”

2) Belle’s favorite book
Does it have pages of missing text?

Text.

No text.

3) Prince Adam’s Portrait
In the prologue, the Beast rips it in a certain way. When Belle finds the portrait in the west wing later on, it is ripped in a different way.

In the prologue.

Later in the film.

Side Note: I found Han Solo!

4) LeFou’s Magic Trick

LeFou has two things to carry.

Wait, where’d the bag go?!?

5) Belle’s eye color
Are they greenish-brown, or just brown?

You can tell Belle did her make-up for Beast. Even put on her brown-colored contacts!

6) Belle’s Reprise
How many times does Belle strike the same pose?

She forgot to close the door behind her… She gonna get robbed!

Side Note: Wardrobe has all of the outfits Belle will wear during her time at the castle, except for her yellow dress.

Pink.

Green.

7) LeFou does it again!

Clearly, there’s beer in there.

Wait, why is LeFou not drenched in his alcoholic beverage right now?!?

8) Magical Oatmeal
The images shown below are in chronological order.

Dirty.

Clean.

Dirty.

Clean.

9) Belle zones out
Somebody forgot to keep animating Belle in this scene…

Side Note: Little Mermaid Easter egg?

10) Belle’s yellow dress
How is it staying on?!?

So did you notice these mistakes? Did I miss any other mistakes? Let me know in the comments below.

Well, a lot of these animation goofs came from the fact that they had to start over production after the first six months of work were scrapped, giving them less time to animate everything clearly. But really, continuity errors are not at all rare. They show up all the time in animated films, such as in “The Little Mermaid,” when Sebastian is in the cave with Ariel, he has a thimble on his leg. The next shot, it’s gone, the next shot, it’s back, next shot, gone!

As much as it’s hard for me to admit that my favorite movie does in fact have mistakes, you’re right that they’re easy to forgive because of the greatness that exists as well. The moments you pointed out actually made me chuckle. Looking forward to your “defense” post!

Glad to hear that this post could make you laugh. Disney knew they had a true classic on their hands; I don’t know why they didn’t give the time Beauty and the Beast needed (as Nat brings up) to patch up some of the rougher animation/little goofs. Still, I would find it silly if anybody seriously pitted these mistakes against BatB’s more than deserving fame.

The ripped portraits are different portraits… one has a square frame the other has rounded portraits, one has red drapery and the other purple… did you really think this was a goof? This is an ego centric prince before the spell, I believe that it is not a stretch to say he had multiple self portraits in HIS castle…. anyone ?